Elsie Mackay - Transatlantic Flight

Transatlantic Flight

To achieve her transatlantic ambition Elsie Mackay bought a Stinson Detroiter, having been impressed by the aircraft during Ruth Elder's failed 1927 transatlantic attempt (despite an oil leak causing the failure 300 miles over the Atlantic). It was shipped from the USA to Britain and delivered to the Brooklands motor racing track, which at the time was also used as an airfield. She named it 'Endeavour'. It was a monoplane with gold tipped wings and a black fuselage, powered by a 9 cylinder, 300 h.p. Wright Whirlwind J-6-9 (R-975) engine, with a cruising speed of 84 m.p.h.

In early March 1928 the Daily Express discovered that Captain Hinchliffe and Elsie were preparing for a transatlantic attempt by carrying out test flights at RAF Cranwell and were staying at the George Hotel in Leadenham near Grantham. The story was silenced by Mackay's threatened legal action as she intended to depart in secret while her father was in Egypt, having promised her family she would not make the attempt.

At 8:35 am on 13 March 1928 'Endeavour' took off from RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, with minimal fuss as Walter had told only two friends he was going and Elsie registered under the pseudonym of 'Gordon Sinclair'. Approximately 5 hours later, at 1.30 pm the Chief lighthouse keeper at Mizen Head on the south west coast of Cork, Ireland saw the monoplane over the village of Crookhaven, on the great circle course for Newfoundland. A French steamer the SS Josiah Macy later reported seeing them still on course, but nothing else is known. A crowd of 5,000 is reputed to have waited for them at Mitchel Field, Long Island. In December 1928, 8 months later, a single piece of identifiable undercarriage (a wheel with a serial number on it) washed ashore in north west Ireland.